4.  The applicant was born in 1978 and lives in Piotrków Trybunalski.
5.  On 4 November 2005 the applicant was arrested by the police.
6.  On 5 November 2005 the Zgierz District Court decided to detain the applicant on remand in view of the reasonable suspicion that he had committed an offence of illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.
7.  The applicant's pre-trial detention was extended on 22 November 2005 and on 31 January, 21 March, 20 June, 1 August, 25 October and 20 December 2006. The courts relied on the severity of the possible sentence, which created a risk of the applicant's going into hiding or interfering with the proper course of the proceedings, and the necessity of gathering evidence in this particularly complex case. The court relied heavily on the complexity of the proceedings which involved many co‑accused who had allegedly participated in an organised, armed gang.
8.  On 25 April and 27 June 2007 the Łódź Court of Appeal further extended the pre-trial detention of the applicant and other co-accused. In the meantime additional charges were brought against the applicant.
9.  On 6 September 2007 the applicant and 21 other co‑accused were indicted before the Łódź Regional Court. The applicant was charged with illegal possession of weapons and ammunition, abetting to murder and robbery committed while acting in an organised criminal gang. The prosecutor requested the court to hear evidence from 24 witnesses.
10.  On account of the complexity of the case the first hearing was scheduled for 8 April 2008.
11.  Between 11 April 2008 and 8 January 2010 the court held thirty three hearings. No hearing was held between 10 June and 10 November 2009 due to the absence of either the accused or the defence lawyers.
12.  The applicant's detention was further extended on 11 September 2007, 23 May and 17 December 2008, 22 April, 23 September and 22 December 2009.
13.  During this detention the applicant served several sentences of imprisonment imposed in different sets of criminal proceedings. In particular between 13 December 2005 and 13 December 2007 he served a sentence of imprisonment imposed by the Zgierz District Court on 10 May 2005. Between 13 December 2007 and 16 April 2009 he served a sentence of imprisonment imposed by the Zgierz District Court on 25 July 2001. Since 16 April 2009 he has been serving a prison sentence imposed on 6 February 2003. The release date is planned for 11 December 2011.
14.  The applicant is also involved in a second set of criminal proceedings.
15.  On 10 March 2009 the applicant and 27 co-accused were indicted before the Łódź Regional Court on multiple charges related to burglaries, thefts, extortions, kidnappings, robberies, drug dealing and stolen cars, committed while acting in an organised, armed criminal gang. This set of proceedings is pending before the first-instance court.
16.  On 28 January 2010 the applicant lodged a complaint under section 5 of the Law of 17 June 2004 on complaints about a breach of the right to a trial within a reasonable time (Ustawa o skardze na naruszenie prawa strony do rozpoznania sprawy w postępowaniu sądowym bez nieuzasadnionej zwłoki) (“the 2004 Act”). He complained about the length of the investigation and the length of the court proceedings.
17.  On 10 March 2010 the Lódź Court of Appeal considered the length of the proceedings to be reasonable and dismissed the applicant's complaint.